


Holes in Time

by secret_daydreamer



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: AU, F/M, Pre-Relationship, mentioned nudity - nothing explicit, mentioned time travel, time agents AU - mostly backstory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-14 10:52:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8010841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/secret_daydreamer/pseuds/secret_daydreamer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After one of Phil Coulson's missions at Strategic History Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division doesn't go as planned his partner disturbs his shower to have word with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Holes in Time

**Author's Note:**

> This was going to be a longer story but I decided to leave it at a one shot; so the time travel AU background explanation might seem unnecessary but I liked the idea, so I kept it.

It had been a long day – again. He wasn’t sure why he kept doing what he did, surely the creepy guy with the eye-patch could find someone better suited than him to perform the tasks that he did. Not better than her, though, he mused. He’d be long since dead i fit wasn’t for her. She was the one that always made sure he’d get out alive and he was incredibly grateful for that – and his daughter probably was, too, or she would be if she knew what her dad was up to for a living.  
He stepped into the shower to wash away all the grime that had gathered on his body today. He turned on the water – scalding hot, just the way he liked it. He stood there for a couple of minutes, simply enjoying the heat and watching the steam cloud the shower doors.  
He thought he heard some kind of noise but decided it would probably just be his daughter coming home from school. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply.  
Suddenly he heard the shower doors opening and as he turned to look who the hell would be looking into his shower he saw his work partner and friend, Melinda May, who stepped in front of him, closing the door behind her.   
He stared at her in disbelief but she didn’t offer an explanation or said anything at all.  
„Why are you in my shower? And completely dressed, too, while I’m standing here naked because that’s how people shower.“   
„We need to talk“, she said without so much as a hint of embarrassment for invading his privacy crossing her face.  
„Yeah, but doesn’t that have time until after I showered?“ He didn’t get this woman. He loved her, probably, but he didn’t get her. „You could at least get naked, too. That way I wouldn’t feel so alone.“  
She just cocked her head to the side and raised her right eyebrow, still not saying anything.  
„Yeah, scratch that. Probably wouldn’t be such a good idea anyway. But you know, you could try to explain what’s so important that it couldn’t have waited until after.“ He really didn’t need to embarrass himself further. Bad enough that he was under her direct scrutiny with no way to cover his imperfections.  
He tried to step out of the shower to cover himself up but she blocked his way.  
„You need to stop doing that“, she said, her voice steady and monotonous. But that was just her way of speaking. She didn’t like to show emotion so over the years she had trained her face and voice to not give away anything.  
He didn’t know exactly what had happened to hurt her so much but he had heard that, while on another mission something had gone south and she had returned a changed woman, never again being able to express herself freely. He had tried to broach the subjects several times but all that had earned him were death glares.  
„Care to specify?“  
„That was my job. You fix history, I make sure you can do that. You don’t run around without my cover. You don’t try to fight anyone. I do that.“ She still kept her voice level, except for the last three words, them she pronounced extra carefully, like he might not understand them otherwise.  
„That’s why you needed to disturb my shower? Come on, May, that could’ve waited at least another ten minutes.“  
„Just don’t do it again.“ She stepped aside to let him leave the shower.  
„You take a piece of your own advice and don’t do this again“, he scolded her as he went to the shelf to grab a towel and wrapped it around himself.  
„I’m serious. That’s what Fury hired me for. I’m the military trained one around here. You’re a historian. Just do your damn job and I’ll do mine.“ She, too, stepped out of the shower now, turning off the water that he had left running as to cover himself as soon as possible to avoid further humiliation.  
„I needed to get there to make sure I could… fix history I mean.“ He tried to defend himself. It really had been necessary but Melinda didn’t seem to get that.   
If he hadn’t been able to save that person history would have been altered forever because some idiot fucked up and accidentally killed Julius Caesar before his time when he fell through a hole in time, accidentally created by a scientist about 5 years ago. Man, being stabbed like that had been painful. Thankfully, due to some technology FitzSimmons had created it had all been fake. He had no idea how that worked but every time one of the agents die in place of someone else they appear to be dead, then said agent’s partner puts the body of the original historical character into his grave and when someone tried to examine it other agents make sure the cover story matches what used to be known of the death.  
He still hadn’t fully comprehended how that was even working at all but it did. None of the changes he had prevented had made it to the present.  
He was still amazed that he could live the life of a person as a nine-to-five job. He went home every evening and then returned to the next time he was ordered to. Depending on how long the person was eradicated before his time 1 to around 10 agents shared each case, taking turns.  
It was crazy that that was possible, he himself hadn’t believed it when he’d first heard it but the amazing technology the scientists of S.H.I.E.L.D (Strategic History Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division) had created allowed ten people to look and sound like the person they’re portraying. Just the research they had to do themselves but that’s why most of them were historians so they actually loved this. I mean what true historian wouldn’t die for a chance to be Caesar for only a short period of time.  
„It was important, Melinda. You know that. I could’ve altered history and you know as well as I do that the consequences are unforeseen. You know what happened when Ward tried. We all had to work twice as hard to fix the damage and that was a minor case ‘cause the dumbass killed the wrong person. We don’t know what happens if we really fuck up some time and I really don’t want to find out.“  
He himself had debated whether this knowledge could be used for good, to stop Hitler for example, but that had been settled when the world ended, quite literally, because of the death of a seemingly utterly irrelevant person. The only reason SHIELD still existed is because it had some kind of idea that something of that sort could happen and created some kind of technology that made them immune to timeline fluctuations.  
„But it could have been fixed. Your death, not so much.“  
He had moved to his bedroom to get dressed and May had followed him there, still dripping wet because of being in his shower earlier.  
„You should probably change your clothes or else you’ll get sick“, he looked at her with concern. That woman was crazy. Stepped into his shower with all of her clothes on to tell him she prefers him alive and then just stared at him as if he’d bend to her will if she just stared hard enough. „and I can’t use a sick partner in the field“, he added as an afterthought just to irk her. She did deserve it, after all.  
„And I can’t use a dead one“, she said, then turned, left his bedroom and walked towards then door.  
He followed her to the living room, intending to stop her but before she even made it to the door it opened, revealing his daughter.  
„Oh, hey, Melinda. Nice seeing you around here. What are you up to?“ Skye asked but Melinda was out the door without another word.  
„Not very chatty, is she?“ She looked after her with an amused look on her face, then started frowning. „Why is she so wet? It’s not even raining.“  
„Just don’t ask“  
She turned to him and her eyes widened. He knew there was really no way out of this, he’d just have to wait for all the accusations to start.  
„Was she in the shower with you? Why didn’t you tell me you were hooking up. No, never mind, I wouldn’t have wanted to know.“ Her face contorted in disgust, which, oddly enough, he found quite adorable.  
„We’re not. She broke into my apartment then got into the shower, while I was in it, completely dressed, I might add. Hence, the dripping wet clothes.“  
He knew it sounded ridiculous and so the look on Skye’s face didn’t surprise him in the least.  
„That’s the truth. I wish it was more believable.“  
„You’re serious?“  
„Yeah, well, you know May. Always the direct one.“


End file.
